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Nature family of journals : authors & referees @ npg

How to publish your paper

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Journal specific instructions

For m ore inform ation on how to publish papers in a specific NPG title, please v isit the author instructions page for the journal that is of interest to y ou. Top of page

Nature journal pledge to authors

Editors of the Nature journals striv e to prov ide authors with an outstandingly efficient, fair and thoughtful subm ission, peer-rev iew and publishing experience. Authors can expect all m anuscripts that are published to be scrutinized for peer-rev iew with the utm ost professional rigor and care by expert referees who are selected by the editors for their ability to prov ide incisiv e and useful analy sis. Editors weigh m any factors when choosing content for Nature journals, but they striv e to m inim ize the tim e taken to m ake decisions about publication while m aintaining the highest possible quality of that decision. After rev iew, editors work to increase a paper's readability , and thereby its audience, through adv ice and editing, so that all research is presented in a form that is both readable to those in the field and understandable to scientists outside the im m ediate discipline. Research is published online without delay through our Adv ance Online Publication sy stem . Nature journals prov ide m ore than 3 ,000 registered journalists with weekly press releases that m ention all research papers to be published. About 800,000 registered users receiv e e-m ailed tables of contents, and m any papers are highlighted for the nonspecialist reader on the journal's hom epage, contents pages and in News and Views. Throughout this process, the editors of Nature journals uphold editorial, ethical and scientific standards according to the policies outlined on the aut hor and referee sit e as well as on our journal websites. We periodically rev iew those policies to ensure that they continue to reflect the needs of the scientific com m unity , and welcom e com m ents and suggestions from scientists, either v ia the feedback links on the author and referees' website or v ia our author blog, Naut ilus, or peer-rev iew blog, Peer t o Peer . Top of page

How to publish your research in a Nature journal

The Nature journals com prise the weekly , m ultidisciplinary Nature, which publishes research of the highest influence within a discipline that will be of interest to scientists in other fields, and fifteen m onthly titles, publishing papers of the highest quality and of exceptional im pact: Nature Biotechnology, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Chemistry, Nature Climate Change, Nature Communications , Nature Genetics , Nature Geoscience, Nature I mmunology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, Nature Methods, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Photonics , Nature Physics , Nature Protocols and Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. These journals are international, being published and printed in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. See here for more informat ion about the relationship between these journals. Nature and the Nature m onthly journals hav e Im pact Factors that are am ong the highest in the world. The high prestige of these journals brings m any rewards to their authors, but also m eans that com petition for publication is sev ere, so m any subm issions hav e to be declined without peer-rev iew. The Nature journals differ from m ost other journals in that they do not hav e editorial boards, but are instead run by professional editors who consult widely am ong the scientific com m unity in m aking decisions about publication of papers. This article is to prov ide y ou with an ov erv iew of the general editorial processes of these unique journals. Although the journals are broadly sim ilar and share edit orial policies, all authors should consult the author inform ation pages of the specific Nature journal before subm itting, to obtain detailed inform ation on criteria for publication and m anuscript preparation for that journal, as som e differences exist.
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Editorial Process
The following sections sum m arise the journals' editorial processes and describe how m anuscripts are handled by editors between subm ission and publication. At all stages of the process, y ou can access the online subm ission sy stem and find the status of y our m anuscript. Presubmission enquiries Researchers m ay obtain inform al feedback from editors before subm itting the whole paper. This serv ice is intended to sav e y ou tim e if the editors feel it would not be suitable, y ou can subm it the m anuscript to another journal without delay . If y ou wish to use the presubm ission enquiry serv ice, please use the online sy stem of the journal of y our choice to send a paragraph explaining the im portance of y our paper, as well as the abstract or sum m ary paragraph with its associated citation list so the editors m ay judge the paper in relation to other related work. The editors will quickly either inv ite y ou to subm it the whole m anuscript (which does not m ean any com m itm ent to publication), or will say that it is not suitable for the journal. If y ou receiv e a negativ e response, please do not reply . If y ou are conv inced of the im portance of y our paper despite editors' reserv ations, y ou m ay subm it the whole m anuscript using the journal's online subm ission sy stem . The editors can then m ake a m ore com plete assessm ent of y our work. Init ial submission When y ou are ready to subm it the paper, please use the online subm ission sy stem for the journal concerned. When the journal receiv es y our m anuscript, it will be assigned a num ber and an editor, who reads the paper, seeks inform al adv ice from scientific adv isors and editorial colleagues, and com pares y our subm ission to other recently published papers in the field. If the paper seem s nov el and arresting, and the work described has both im m ediate and far-reaching im plications, the editor will send it out for peer-rev iew, usually to two or three independent specialists. Howev er, because the journals can publish a sm all proportion of the papers in the field or subfield concerned, m any papers hav e to be declined without peer-rev iew ev en though they m ay describe solid scientific results. Transfers bet ween Nat ure journals In som e cases, an editor is unable to offer publication, but m ight suggest that the m anuscript is m ore suitable for one of the other Nature journals. If y ou wish to resubm it y our m anuscript to the suggested journal, y ou can sim ply follow the link prov ided by the editor to transfer y our m anuscript to the new journal. This process is entirely in y our control: y ou can choose not to use this serv ice and instead to subm it y our m anuscript to any other Nature or Nature Publishing Group journal, with or without including the rev iewers' com m ents, depending on the journal's policies, using the journal's usual online subm ission serv ice. Peer review The corresponding author is notified by e-m ail when an editor decides to send a paper for rev iew. The editors choose referees for their independence, ability to ev aluate the technical aspects of the paper fully and fairly , whether they are currently or recently assessing related subm issions, and whether they can rev iew the m anuscript within the short tim e requested. You m ay suggest referees for y our paper (including address details), so long as they are independent scientists. These suggestions are often helpful, although they are not alway s followed. Editors will honour y our requests to exclude a lim ited num ber of nam ed scientists as rev iewers. Decisions and revisions When m aking a decision about publication in the light of rev iewers' com m ents, editors consider not only how good the paper is now, but also how good it m ight becom e after rev ision. When all the rev iewers' com m ents hav e been receiv ed, the editors discuss a m anuscript am ong them selv es and then write to the author. In this letter, the editor will either decline to publish y our paper, or suggest that y ou rev ise it for resubm ission, or offer to publish it without further rev ision. If the editor suggests rev ising y our paper, he or she will prov ide specific suggestions, will state in the letter whether the rev isions are m ajor or m inor, and whether further consultation with referees is likely when y ou resubm it the rev ised v ersion. If the editor inv ites y ou to rev ise y our m anuscript, y ou should include with y our resubm itted v ersion a new cov er letter that includes a point-by -point response to the rev iewers' and editors' com m ents, including an explanation of
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how y ou hav e altered y our m anuscript in response to these, and an estim ation of the length of the rev ised v ersion with figures/tables. Additional supplem entary inform ation is published with the online v ersion of y our paper if the editors and referees hav e judged that it is essential for the conclusions of the paper (for exam ple, a large table of data or the deriv ation of a m odel) but of m ore specialist interest than the rest of the paper. Editors encourage authors whose papers describe m ethods to prov ide a sum m ary of the m ethod for the print v ersion and to include full details and protocols online. Authors are also encouraged to post the full protocol in the journal Nature Protocols , which as well as a protocols database prov ides an online forum for readers in the field to add com m ents, suggestions and refinem ents to the published protocols. Aft er accept ance Your accepted m anuscript is prepared for publication by copy editors (also called subeditors), who refine it so that the text and figures are readable and clear to those outside the im m ediate field; choose key words to m axim ize v isibility in online searches as well as suitable for indexing serv ices; and ensure that the papers conform to house sty le. The copy editors are happy to giv e adv ice to authors whose nativ e language is not English, and will edit those papers with special care. Aft er publicat ion All papers are published in the print edition and, in PDF and HTML form at, in the online edition of the journal, in full. Many linking and nav igational serv ices are prov ided with the online (HTML) v ersion of all papers published by the Nature journals. All papers and contact details of corresponding authors are included in our press release serv ice, which m eans that y our work is drawn to the attention of all the m ain m edia organizations in the world, who m ay choose to feature the work in newspaper and other m edia reports. Som e papers are sum m arized and highlighted within Nature and Nature Publishing Group publications and subject-specific websites. Journals published by Nature Publishing Group do not ask authors for copy right, but instead ask y ou to sign an exclusive publishing license. This allows y ou to archiv e the accepted v ersion of y our paper six m onths after publication on y our own, y our institution's, and y our funder's websites. Disagreement s wit h decisions If a journal's editors are unable to offer publication of a m anuscript and hav e not inv ited resubm ission, y ou are strongly adv ised to subm it y our paper for publication elsewhere. Howev er, if y ou believ e that the editors or rev iewers hav e m isunderstood y our paper, y ou m ay write to the editors, explaining the scientific reasons why y ou believ e the decision was incorrect. Please bear in m ind that editors prioritise newly subm itted m anuscripts and m anuscripts where resubm ission has been inv ited, so it can take sev eral weeks before letters of disagreem ent can be answered. During this tim e, y ou m ust not subm it y our m anuscript elsewhere. In the interests of publishing y our results without unnecessary delay , we therefore adv ise y ou to subm it y our paper to another journal if it has been declined, rather than to spend tim e on corresponding further with the editors of the declining journal. Top of page

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